Nicknames
by NoGoodDeed94
Summary: . "I think nicknames hold more power and love than we realise sometimes, even to people who haven't realised they're in love yet."


**A/N: This is a companion piece to The Progressions of a Friendship explaining the origin of the nickname 'Nevvy', though both can be ready completely and absolutely alone.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Harry Potter, books or films, aren't mine.**

**Set whilst they're at Hogwarts 7th year and Harry, Ron and Hermione are hunting Horcruxes!**

**Nicknames**

Luna lay in her hammock and stared up at the ceiling of The Room of Requirement, she'd always had difficulty sleeping, usually it was sleepwalking or nightmares, but for the time being she couldn't even get to sleep. Normally, Luna always suspected it was the amount of Wrackspurts around that made her restless, there were an awful lot at night and they always seemed to be attracted to her, but on this occasion she knew it was due to the problems they'd had that day. Her and a few others had refused to use the Cruciatus curse on some first years which in return provoked a lot of punishment from the Carrows, she thought that the stress would have made her sleepy enough to hopefully drop off but Luna was having difficulty getting the nasty images out of her head. Closing her eyes in an attempt to try and sleep again, Luna sighed heavily as once again the images of Cho and Neville getting beaten by the Carrows filled her head again. Luna sighed and decided to let her thoughts wander, deciding that if anybody could see inside her head right now, feel her feelings too, they'd probably go into shock. When people see and listen to her they always expect her to be wearing, doing or saying something strange, after all she is 'Loony Lovegood' and most people thought she wasn't capable of having a 'normal' thought. They'd have no doubt have found it odd that like any ordinary person she too was having difficulty forgetting about the dark magic that was slowly filling their lives. To Luna though, talking about Blibbering Humdingers and wandering around with her Spectrespecs on was just as normal as letting your guard down and feeling fear and grief. Turning around, Luna continued to allow her thoughts to escalate, occasionally tricking herself into believing she was asleep, until she heard a rustling noise to the left of her and the unexpected sound of a mans voice.

"Lu?" The voice whispered. "Lu, are you awake?" Realising it was the soft voice of Neville Longbottom Luna turned to face the direction of the murmur and opened her eyes.

"Hello Neville!" Luna answered brightly, earning a 'sh' from Neville and a nervous glance around to check they hadn't woke anybody up. "Oops." Luna offered as an apology.

"I can't sleep." Neville sighed. "I heard you moving around and thought maybe you were awake, sorry if I disturbed you." He looked nervously at his hands and then looked up at Luna whose eyes were staring widely at him.

"I couldn't sleep either."

"At first I thought maybe you'd had another nightmare?" Luna smiled and shook her head. Neville wouldn't be shocked if he could hear her thoughts or feel her feelings, Luna decided, he'd understand that though on the outside people often look unaffected usually deep down something can be tearing them up inside, he was just as misunderstood as her.

"I like it when you call me Lu." She whispered into the darkness, her voice so small Neville almost didn't hear it.

"Oh, er, good, it has sort of become a habit." The first time Neville had called her Lu it was an accident, but when she didn't tell him off and when he realised he liked the sound of it he'd just continued to use it without a second thought.

"I've always thought there has been something special about nicknames." She spoke quietly as though she almost didn't want to say it out loud.

"Really?" Neville couldn't help but let the surprise fill his voice as he leant up on his elbow to listen to her.

"Oh yes, you see I've never had a nickname before." Luna went on to explain. "My mother called me 'lovely' all the time, but somehow I don't think that counts, do you?" Neville decided it was a rhetorical question and let her continue. "I think nicknames show just how strong friendships can be. Nicknames are more often than not something only close friends are allowed to use and, when you think about it, it must take a lot of trust to allow someone to call you by a completely different name other than the one given to you at birth. Sometimes they can link to a private joke too and usually those nicknames don't really tend to make sense to anybody else." Luna took a second to allow Neville to contemplate what she was saying and then moved on. "I like nicknames like that because they're like special secrets, but even more secretive than normal ones! No matter how much you explain a funny nickname to an outsider, they'd still never truly appreciate what the nickname meant and how important it was to the friendship, so even though they'd have more of an understanding they'd still never really be part of the exclusive joke." Neville smiled, she had such a beautiful way of thinking about things and she probably never even realised.

"I know what you mean." He whispered.

"They can also be quite intimate too." She carried on. "The best nicknames are usually ones shared only between two people, because they're normally used to show affection and love, everybody calls Ginevra 'Ginny' purely out of convenience but I've often heard Harry call her 'Gin', I've never heard anyone else call her that. The same goes for Hermione and Ron, when Hermione isn't pretending to be mad at him that is. Whenever they think they're alone Ron will call her 'Mione and then all of a sudden Hermione gets this look on her face, like all her Christmas' have come at once, and when Ron says it, he probably doesn't realise, but he always looks at her with a complete sense of adoration in his eyes." Neville's heart began to swell at the way she spoke so softly and so caring about nicknames, something usually considered being trivial, and he started to feel almost as though he could cry. "It's almost as if they're parts of a whole, Harry and 'Gin' and Ron and 'Mione, you don't get Harry and 'Gin' and Dean or Ron and 'Mione and Seamus, the nicknames are just reserved for them." Luna sighed gently. "I think nicknames hold more power and love than we realise sometimes, even to people who haven't realised they're in love yet." Neville thought about all the things she'd said and then thought about the reason why he called her Lu. He called her Lu because she was his best friend and calling her something completely different distinguished their friendship from the rest, he called her Lu because he thought it was a lot more affectionate and, when he was feeling particularly down, he could call her that and almost imagine that he was the other half of their whole, it was more something a boyfriend would say rather than a best friend.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Lu." There was a thick silence for a minute or two as both considered what Luna had said and then she cleared her throat and spoke again.

"I really do like it when you call me Lu." She reiterated. "I think you should have a nickname in return, one that I've picked that no one else calls you." Luna thought for a minute and then grinned. "Nevvy!" She whispered suddenly. Neville's initial thought was that it sounded a little bit cheesy but then he remembered everything she'd said about it being caring and decided that, as it was coming from her, there couldn't have been a nickname more perfect.

"Sounds wonderful." He whispered back to her, allowing himself for just that one time to read into what she had said, he allowed himself to believe that she was giving him that nickname out of nothing but love just like when he had christened her with 'Lu'. They sat there in silence for a bit, taking in what had just happened, until both began to doze off. Only when they were both almost asleep did Luna lean across the small gap between their hammocks and press her lips to Neville's cheek.

"I rather like being half of a whole, Nevvy." She whispered, lying back down.

"Me too, Lu, me too."


End file.
